USA Pickleball recently released the upcoming 2021 Pickleball Rule changes and there is a LOT!
This year alone there are 125 rule updates in the official change document they published and it's 81 pages long. 😦
Don't worry, we're here to break it down for you. However, make sure you're subscribed to our emails below. We'll be going over the rule changes in more detail over the coming days.
What are the main 2021 Pickleball Rule changes?
There's quite a few rule changes especially for competitive players looking to play in tournaments. The two most notable changes have to do with the serve.
1. Service lets are removed.
2. The Drop Serve is now allowed.
⚠️ Provisional Rule ⚠️
This allows the serving player to drop the ball (without any applied force) and proceed to hit the ball underhanded. This second major rule change is classified as provisional by USA Pickleball and is subject to reversal after the 2021 year. According to USA Pickleball, this was meant to allow more players an alternative serve, especially for those who develop 'servers block' otherwise known as the 'yips.'
For the full text released by USA Pickleball visit here.
1 comment
The 2021 service let rule is terrible as it rewards someone with a winning point as a result of a lucky hit of the net that barely clears the kitchen line and then dies. The service receiver needs to stay deep to return a hard deep serve, which he/she determines by observing the arm motion of the server, the sound of the ball off of the racquet and observing the initial speed of the ball coming toward them. If the ball is coming deep with pace he/she start moving laterally to intercept the ball. With this rule the ball doesn’t change speed or direction until it is half way to the receiver and then in just over one second it has hit the ground and frequently doesn’t bounce. This doesn’t allow the receiver time to make a play on the ball and results in the server getting an undeserved point from a lucky and unplanned shot. Also it puts the receiver at risk of injury from having to make a sudden unplanned switch of direction and momentum. Tennis has had a let service rule forever for these same reasons. One of the beauties of this game is the honest calling of faults and out balls by the players and this also applies to the calling of let serves. In tournaments you could have the center referee put his hand on the top of the net for the serve and then step back from the court for the rest of the point. This was done in tennis for years until the advent of electric monitoring. The PPA was smart to say that they weren’t going to allow this foolish ruling and we should follow their good sense.
As for the drop serve I think it is a non-issue. It doesn’t give an advantage to the server, it doesn’t slow the game and it allows beginners to play the game until they have developed a more athletic service.